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MESSAGE 



PROM 



HIS EXCELLENCY 

GOV. ROLLIN S. WOODRUFF 



TO THE 



GENERAL ASSEMBLY 



RELATING TO THE JAMESTOWN TERCENTENNIAL 

EXPOSITION; TRANSMITTING REPORT OF THE 

CONNECTICUT COMMISSION. 















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MESSAGE 

FROM 

HIS EXCELLENCY 

GOV. ROLLIN S. WOODRUFF 

TO THE 

GENERAL ASSEMBLY 



RELATING TO THE JAMESTOWN TER-CENTENNLIL 

EXPOSITION; TRANSMITTING REPORT OF THE 

CONNECTICUT COMMISSION. 






HARTFORD PRESS: 

THE CASE, LOCKWOOD & BRAINARD COMPANY, 

1907. 



FEB 1 1907 
D. OF D. 






MESSAGE FROM THE GOVERNOR 



The folloAving message was sent to the General As- 
sembly and ordered printed for use of Members of the As- 
sembly : 

Hartford, January 22, 1907. 
To the Honorable General Assembly: 

I transmit herewith a report from the " Connecticut Com- 
mission for the Jamestown Tercentennial Exposition." 

That exposition will open on Friday, April 26, 1907, and 
will close its doors on Saturday, E'ovember 30, 1907. It 
will commemorate the tercentennial anniversary of the first 
settlement by English-speaking men in America, at James- 
town, on the James River, in 1607, thirteen years before the 
Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts. 

The exposition will be located on a site overlooking Hamp- 
ton Roads, about six miles from the city of Norfolk. The 
site is a delightful one, close to the sea, which makes possible 
an elaborate display by the United States UsTavy. The battle- 
ship ^^ Connecticut," and probably a large number of other 
United States battleships and cruisers will be maneuvred as 
a fleet some time during the exposition. The precise site of 
the original settlement of Jamestown was not selected by the 
commission because it was not suitable for that purpose, it 
being impossible to find or provide adequate hotel accom- 
modations, and there being only a single railroad. 

In 1905 Congress made an appropriation of $250,000 for a 
government military and naval display during the expo- 
sition, that sum to include the expense of entertaining mili- 
tary and naval forces from foreign countries. And in 1906 
Congress made a further appropriation of about $1,400,000 



for exhibits by the various departments of the government, 
and as direct aid to the exposition. 

In 1905 and 1906 many of the states made appropriations 
for state buildings and for a proper presentation of their 
industries. The State of Virginia appropriated $450,000; 
ITew York, $150,000; Pennsylvania, $100,000; l^ew Jersey 
and Ohio $75,000 each; Maryland, $65,000: Missouri, $60,- 
000 ; Ehode Island and Massachusetts $50,000 each, and the 
more distinctively agricultural states made lesser appropria- 
tions chiefly to instal agricultural exhibits and to erect state 
buildings and t,o pay for state ceremonials. In all, twenty- 
one states have participated. It is expected that several other 
states are not actively interested will make appropriations 
through their state legislatures this winter, and an estimate 
places the total amount of appropriations anticipated from 
the states at about $2,000,000. The entire cost of the Exposi- 
tion is estimated at $8,000,000. 

Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, Ehode Island, 'New 
York, Peoinsylvania and sixteen other states have contracted 
for state buildings and others will probably do so. Seven 
large buildings are being erected by the Exposition Govern- 
ment, averaging 300 by 500 feet. But the scope of these 
exhibits has been so^ much enlarged that already supple- 
mentary buildings are planned. 

The exhibits from Connecticut, excepting those of our 
manufactories, which will be placed in the Manufactures and 
Liberal Arts building, where there is power for the operation 
of machinery, will be located in the State Exhibits Building, 
where 3500 square feet of space was given to Connecticut 
free of charge ; and it is confidently expected that one of the 
most important and striking exhibits along industrial lines 
will be that which represents the high rank of Connecticut in 
the nation's industries. 

The management of the exposition has carefully plaimed 
ample hotel accommodations for visitors on and near the 



grounds, and additional hospitality \\all be available at 
E'orfolk, Old Point Comfort, ]N'ewport 'News, and Ports- 
month, thns ensuring the coniifort of the many thousands who 
will visit the exposition. 

President Roosevelt's invitation to participate in the naval 
and military display has been accepted by twenty-nine for- 
eign nations. More than one hundred conventions of a wide 
range of national organizations will be»held during the term 
of the exposition, a convention hall seating three thousand 
people being provided for such occasions. 

President Roosevelt will formally open the exposition on 
April 26, and the States represented by exhibits will be rep- 
resented also by their State officials. Wednesday, October 
sixteenth, has been selected as " Connecticut Day,'' and a 
special program of civil and military exercises has been out- 
lined. 

I would recommend that the General Assembly give care- 
ful consideration to the contents of our State Commission's 
report submitted herewith and follow the suggestions made 
therein, because I have the utmost faith in the wisdom of the 
members of that commission. I believe that great benefit 
will be received by the industries of our State that are 
properly represented at the exposition. The high rank that 
has been held by Connecticut as an industrial State must be 
maintained, and the Jamestown exposition will afford a most 
excellent and timely opportunity to press our claims for con- 
sideration upon the visitors from every State in the Union 
and from many foreign countries. I believe that money spent 
upon the State's exhibits will be found in future years to 
have been money well invested, and that the return therefrom 
will be large. 

RoLLiN S. Woodruff, 

Governor. 



REPORT 



OF THE 



CONNECTICUT COMMISSION 



FOR THE 



1907 



HARTFORD PRESS 

The Case Lockwood & Brainard Company 

1907 



OFFICE OF THE 

CONNECTICUT COMMISSION 

FOR THE 

JAMESTOWN TER-CENTENNIAL EXPOSITION. 



Hartford^ Conn.^ Jan. g, 1907. 
To His Excellency, Rollin S. Woodruff, Governor. 

Sir: — We have the honor to report the operations of this 
commission, appointed by His Excellency, Governor Henry 
Roberts, under the provisions of Special Act No. 451, Jan- 
uary Session 1905, entitled, " Resolution Concerning the 
Representation of the State at the Jamestown Ter-Centen- 
nial Exposition," approved July 18, 1905. 

This act authorized the Governor to appoint a commis- 
sion of three persons '' to determine the manner in v^hich 
the State of Connecticut shall be represented at said expo- 
sition." After providing for the expenses of this investiga- 
tion, the act further provided, in substance, that if the com- 
missioners were fully satisfied that the exposition was to be 
of such character and extent as to warrant participation 
by Connecticut, then the State Board of Control might, 
at its discretion, make available for the commission a sum 
not exceeding $25,000. 

On August 8, 1905, His Excellency, Governor Roberts, 
appointed as members of the commission : Samuel A. Eddy, 
of North Canaan; William J. Barber, of Harwinton, and 
Thomas Hamilton, of Groton, who were, under the provi- 
sions of the act, to serve without compensation. 

At the time of the passage of the act, the character 
and scope of the exposition were to a very considerable 
extent undetermined, even by the exposition ofificials who 



explained the matter to the legislative committee, and it 
was therefore not practicable to decide upon the extent to 
which Connecticut should participate, nor to make a definite 
estimate of the amount which would be required to cover 
the cost of a representation of the State which should be 
in keeping with her historic prominence as one of the 
thirteen original colonies and her important position in the 
industrial world. The sum of $25,000 to which the Board of 
Control was limited, was regarded as tentative, leaving it 
to the wisdom of the General Assembly of 1907 to deter- 
mine, in the light of later information, the amount that 
would be needed for appropriate representation. A similar 
course, it may be noted, was adopted in 1905 by several 
other States, whose appropriations have since been en- 
larged. 

Promptly after their appointment, the commissioners 
organized, with Mr. Eddy as president, Mr. Barber as 
secretary, and Mr. Hamilton as treasurer, and made such 
investigation as was then practicable as to the prospects 
of the exposition, and the probable participation of other 
States. In 1905 the Congress appropriated $250,000 for 
military and naval representation by the national govern- 
ment at the exposition, and in January, 1906, a bill was 
introduced (and subsequently passed with but a single 
dissenting vote in either house) appropriating about 
$1,400,000 for enlarged representation of the governmental 
departments and in general aid of the exposition. Legis- 
latures meeting in 1905 and the succeeding year made 
liberal appropriations, ensuring very general State repre- 
sentation. In view of these facts, which appeared to remove 
any doubt of the ultimate success of the exposition, your 
commission felt warranted in arranging to reach final con- 
clusions as to whether Connecticut should join with her 
sister States in the celebration. 

In the closing week of February, 1906, a visit to the 
Exposition grounds near Norfolk, Va., was made by the 
members of the State Board of Control, including His Excel- 
lency, Governor Roberts, the Hon. James F. Walsh, treasurer. 



and the Hon. Asahel W. Mitchell, comptroller; with 
this commission. The outlook for the exposition was 
carefully investigated, and the members of the commission 
and of the State Board of Control were so well satisfied 
with the representations made and the evidences of actual 
progress that they unanimously decided that Connecticut 
would be warranted in incurring the expense of representa- 
tion. An advantageous site for a State building was 
selected, and information was obtained as to the character 
of the exhibits this State would find most profitable to make, 
in exploiting the industries of her people. The State Board 
of Control, on ]\Iarch 28, 1906, formally passed over to the 
credit of the commission the amount named in the act. 

Early steps w^ere taken for the organization of the com- 
mission's work. An advisory committee was decided upon, 
and invitations to membership therein were accepted by the 
Hon. Frank L. Wilcox, of Berlin, who was president of 
the Connecticut Commission for the Exposition at St. 
Louis ; Mrs. John M. Holcombe, of Hartford, who served 
as a member of the National Board of Lady Managers of 
that Exposition and also as an honorary member of the 
Connecticut Commission, and the Rev. Samuel Hart, of 
Middletown, president of the Connecticut Historical Society, 
whose counsel and advice on historic features was espe- 
cially sought. In May, Mr. George D. Curtis, of Hartford, 
accepted the position of manager, charged with the duty 
of attending to the many details arising in connection with 
the State building and the classification and collection of 
exhibits. 

The prospectus of the exposition called for not only the 
usual exhibits of manufactures, products of the dairy and 
the orchard, the tobacco field and the farm generally, with 
our extensive educational system, and all the other depart- 
ments in which Connecticut has been so well represented at 
previous expositions, but, also, for very interesting classes 
of historical exhibits as well as exhibits in the department 
of social economics. Commemorative, as the exposition 
will be, of the ter-centennial anniversary of the founding 



6 

at Jamestown, Va., in 1607, oi the first English speaking 
settlement in this country, thirteen years prior to the 
landing of the Pilgrims on the shores of New England, the 
program of the exposition gives unusual prominence to 
historical features, and Connecticut, dating back to the days 
of Thomas Hooker, rich in history and especially prominent 
in the development of constitutional liberty, finds herself 
well prepared to make, in this historical department, a very 
creditable showing. In its preparation, the commission is 
indebted to the State Librarian for invaluable advice and 
assistance. 

The wide range of exhibits in the social economic depart- 
ment will include illustrations of the system of our legisla- 
tive department; the work of several of the State commis- 
sions, including good roads plans, insurance, the State 
savings bank system, factory inspection methods for the 
protection of workmen, operation of the Bureau of Labor 
Statistics, and, by means of photographs and reports, the build- 
ings and the character of the service performed by institutions 
receiving State support — penal, reformatory, and charitable. 
The department of education is preparing a comprehensive ex- 
hibit of our public school system, and in close relation to this 
will be exhibits of our universities and colleges, and our profes- 
sional and preparatory schools. The plans for the agricultural 
exhibits are in the hands of committees appointed by the State 
Board of Agriculture and allied associations, assuring satisfac- 
tory results. Arrangements have been perfected for a compre- 
hensive exhibit of the press of the State and various other 
interesting features. 

No other subject has engaged the attention of the 
commission more closely than that of the Connecticut State 
building. It was essential that the order of architecture 
be colonial, and the commission when seeking a model was 
fortunate in finding in ancient Litchfield a typical struc- 
ture, the Colonel Talmadge house, erected just prior to 
the outbreak of the Revolutionary struggle. The adapta- 
tion of the original plan so as to meet the requirements of 
a State building at the exposition was entrusted to Con- 



necticut hands, the architect, Mr. E. K. Rossiter, being a 
resident of the section and familiar with the Colonial 
architecture of the State. Upon careful investigation as to 
the possibilities of sale to the best advantage after the 
close of the exposition, the commission concluded that 
it would be sound business policy to. erect, not a building 
of flimsy construction adapted only to mere temporary use, 
but one of substantial build, which would command a fair 
price for private ownership in a section now fast building 
up with shore residences of the better class. The commis- 
sion felt warranted in this course by the fact that instead 
of being obliged, at a sacrifice, to remove the building from 
the grounds, as at Chicago and St. Louis, the exposition 
management offered to give an option on the lot at a reason- 
able purchase price ; thereby ensuring undisturbed posses- 
sion of the building pending sale to the best advantage of 
the State. This option was accepted, extending to the 
spring of 1908. 

Bids for the erection of the building were received from 
contractors in this State and at Norfolk, Va., some bids 
reaching $30,000. The contract was awarded in August 
last, for $18,300, to the lowest bidder, the H. Wales Lines 
Co., of Meriden, whose work upon the State building at 
St. Louis was highly satisfactory to the commission of that 
exposition. The building is already far advanced and will 
be finished by the contractors by March i, affording ample 
time for the furnishing and fitting, and the preparation of 
the grounds before the opening day of the exposition, iVpril 
26. While costing less than several of the buildings erected 
by other States, it will be, in architectural attractions and 
substantial construction, second to none of the twenty 
or more expensive State buildings which are being erected 
along the shore line of the exposition grounds, overlooking 
the broad waters of Hampton Roads. The furniture will 
be of the Colonial type and largely of Connecticut origin. 

The governing principle in the plans of the commission 
throughout, has been to ensure, at minimum expense, the 
representation of Connecticut on a scale commensurate with 



8 

not only the importance of her industrial interests, but, also, 
the advanced position she has held from Colonial times 
down to the present day in helping to make the history of 
this nation. When the plans of other States were outlined 
and liberal appropriations made by their legislatures to 
meet them (many of them in excess of the Connecticut 
appropriation), the commissioners were confident that the 
State pride of our people would never be satisfied to have 
this State take any secondary place at the exposition. The 
commission, therefore, prepared its plans to ensure a repre- 
sentation of the State befitting its population, wealth, and 
industrial and historical importance. These plans will call 
for expenditures in excess of the appropriation of $25,000 
by the last General Assembly. Having in mind the law of 
the State, the commission, while planning to cover the field 
of its work effectively and for the best interest of the State, 
has carefully avoided involving the State, by contracts or 
otherwise, in excess of the definite amount which was placed 
to its credit. 

It is estimated that the further sum of $30,000 will be 
necessary to cover the cost of the plans as to building, 
exhibits, and administration, and it is urged that this sum 
be made available during the present month, as a large part 
of the money will necessarily be expended prior to May i. 
The apportionment of the sum should be : For building, 
$8,000; furnishing and exhibits, $17,000; administration and 
incidentals, $5,000. Economies which have been devised 
in arranging the plans and otherwise, by eliminating expen- 
sive booth construction, etc., give full promise that, with 
these additional funds, Connecticut will be enabled to make a 
satisfactory exhibit at much less expense than at previous 
expositions. The sale of the building, possible under far 
more favorable conditions than at St. Louis or Chicago^ as 
well as the sale of furnishings, etc., ensures a very consider- 
able return. 

In addition to the items named above some provision 
should be made for participation on the part of the state in the 
ceremonials connected with the opening day, April 26, and an 



appropriate observance of October i6, which has been set 
apart as " Connecticut Day." 

For these ceremonials we estimate that $15,000 can be 
properly used and we recommend that this amount be appro- 
priated for this purpose, to be expended at the discretion of 
his Excellency the Governor. 

In conclusion, your commission, having in view the 
extent and character of the exposition, the assured large 
general attendance, and the convenient distance and light 
expense of attendance from this State, is satisfied that the 
outlay is warranted, and that with the amount named Con- 
necticut will be represented in a manner befitting the 
prominence she has always maintained among her sister 
States. 

Respectfully submitted, 

Samuel A. Eddy, 
William J. Barber, 
Thomas Hamilton. 



// 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



019 935 846 7 



